VESSEL REVIEW | Skipanes & Akranes – Methanol-ready Ro-Ro ships for North Atlantic freight routes

Faroese operator Smyril Line has taken delivery of two freight-only Ro-Ro vessels built for year-round service on its routes linking mainland Europe, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland.

Skipanes and Akranes were built by CIMC Raffles in Yantai, China.

Danish naval architecture firm Knud E. Hansen produced the basic design, and the shipyard was responsible for detailed and construction design under an engineering, procurement and construction lump-sum turnkey contract.

Skipanes was handed over on August 25, 2026, followed by Akranes on October 16.

With space for rolling freight and containerised cargo

The Faroese-flagged sisters each have an LOA of 189.5 metres (621.7 feet), a length between perpendiculars of 184 metres (604 feet), a beam of 27.2 metres (89.2 feet), a depth of 9.2 metres (30 feet), and a draught of 6.5 metres (21 feet). Each ship also has a gross tonnage of 29,891, a net tonnage of 8,968, and a deadweight of 9,619.

Each ship offers 3,300 lane metres (11,000 linear feet) across four freight decks. KfW IPEX-Bank, which financed the programme, said each vessel can accommodate around 220 trailers and 300 cars.

Each also has 100 refrigerated-container connections for fish cargo.

The ships carry no passengers. Akranes has a crew of 26, and Smyril Line said the design placed particular emphasis on crew comfort and well-being.

Fitted with emissions reduction systems

Propulsion for each vessel is provided by one MAN B&W 7S50ME-C10.6 HPSCR main engine that produces 13,300 kW (17,800 hp) driving a controllable-pitch propeller to deliver a service speed of 18 knots.

For manoeuvring, each ship relies on a stern thruster and two bow thrusters. CIMC Raffles said the propulsion system was designed to maintain manoeuvrability and reliability even under in severe sea conditions.

Smyril Line said battery systems and shore power connections would permit the vessels to conduct port operations without emissions. The ships are also methanol-ready, and the operator has named e-methanol as its preferred future fuel.

The DNV design notations include Battery(Safety), Shore power, Fuel ready(LFL[Bc; D; MEc; P]) and Clean(Tier III). The ER notation records a hybrid exhaust gas cleaning system and selective catalytic reduction.

CIMC Raffles said the vessels could cut carbon emissions for each tonne of cargo by more than 60 per cent compared to Smyril Line's existing fleet. At the 2024 announcement of the order, Smyril Line Chief Executive Jens Meinhard Rasmussen said that the resulting energy savings, “will be at least 60 per cent."

The ships each feature chemical-free, fixed fire suppression system designed to improve safety when carrying electric vehicles.

The system uses a 16-cubic-metre (3,500-gallon) brine tank pre-cooled to −19°C. Responders penetrate a vehicle window and deliver the brine into the cabin.

"It cools, displaces flammable gases, and helps short-circuit and depower the battery," said Frederik Jonassen, the system's lead engineer.

Smyril Line scheduled Akranes to depart China the week after her delivery.

The passage is expected to last about six weeks, with arrival in Tórshavn projected for early December. In the meantime, the operator has chartered the Ro-Ro vessel Maxine for its Rotterdam–Faroe Islands–Iceland freight service.

The newbuildings follow Smyril Line's 2025 sale of the previous Akranes, built in 1998, to Fred Olsen Express.

In June 2026, Rasmussen told the Kringvarp Føroya that the company had no plans to sell further vessels once the two newbuildings arrived.